


Agent Carter: The Shadow that Howls.

by caitiespace



Category: Agent Carter (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-26
Updated: 2016-01-26
Packaged: 2018-05-16 09:28:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5823343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caitiespace/pseuds/caitiespace
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peggy Carter made the decision to stay in California the way she made most decisions in life – on an impulse. But little did she guess just how much trouble she was signing herself up for - both personally and professionally.<br/>In a move that was meant to be all about a new start, it seems like far too much of her old life is coming back to haunt her. Old problems, old enemies, and worse - old loves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One

Peggy made the decision to stay in California the way she made most decisions in life – on an impulse.

The Isodyne case was solved, a conspiracy halted and a killer behind bars. A neat conclusion to an otherwise messy adventure. There had been nothing more to do than pack her bags and return to New York.

Peggy had ceded to Mr Jarvis’ insistence on driving her to the airport, travelling one last time in one of Howard’s cars with way too many non-standard modifications.

“Miss Carter,” Jarvis had said, opening her door for her as she stepped out onto the curb.

“Thank you, Mr Jarvis,” she said, accepting the small suitcase he held in his hand. “I think I can manage from here.”

“Have a safe trip, ma’am,” he said. “And if, by any chance, you find yourself on our side of the country again, please do not hesitate to call. My life seems to be far more… colourful, while you are in town.”

“I am going to miss you too, Mr Jarvis,” Peggy said, leaning in for a quick hug of her favourite compatriot. “Now you better get home to Ana.”

Peggy had gone to wait in the departures lounge, for the first of many flights on her way back to New York. She sat by the window, ticket in hand, watching the latest arrivals offload on to the tarmac. It didn’t seem that long ago that she herself had landed in Los Angeles. She was not sure how ready she was to leave it.

“Peggy.”

Peggy turned, and was surprised to see Agent Sousa standing near her. He seemed a bit rushed, his hair faintly askew and slightly short of breath from the exertion of walking with his leg. Her heart fluttered slightly at the sight of him.

“Daniel,” she said, standing. “What are you doing here?”

He cleared his throat and stood up straighter. He would have straightened his tie, had he been wearing one.

“I’m here to offer you a job,” he said.

“I’m sorry?”

“A job,” he repeated. He took a step forward, his crutch clunking as it went. It was a miracle that Peggy hadn’t noticed his approach, with such a noise.

“Look, Peg. I want you to stay here with me – with the LA branch of the SSR, I mean,” he corrected. “God knows I could use an agent like you. We are such a new agency, no one here knows quite what they’re doing. I need a good role model for our new agents to learn off.”

“Thompson will never approve…”

“By Hell he won’t – sorry…” he said, raising a hand to apologise for the language. “But you know what I mean. When you get back to New York, Thompson’s going to try to stick you in a box somewhere. You know he doesn’t like sharing the limelight. He’d probably be grateful for me taking you off his hands. Please, Peg. Stay here, where you can do some good.”

Peggy looked out the window, towards her plane that was in the last stages of cleaning before boarding. Its silver hull shone brightly in the West Coast sunlight, each rivet that lined its sides like an unintentional sequin.

This was a bad idea. Peggy new that. There was more than one reason why remaining in California was the wrong choice, and only half of those reasons had to do with the job alone. The other half, if she was being honest with herself, had to do with the newly-engaged Agent Sousa, standing barely two feet from her. All reasonable thought dictated that she remove herself from the next chapter of his life, an action that just felt all that much harder when he was standing right there, begging her not to go.

Peggy had never liked being all that sensible, anyway.

“Fine,” she said, trying to maintain a detached expression. “But I want a raise.”

“A raise?” he said, lifting an eyebrow. “What do you need a raise for? Aren’t you perpetually the house guest of one of the richest men in the country?”

“You are the one trying to poach me away from your competitor,” she pointed out. “You have to make it worth my while.”

“I can’t give you a raise,” he said. “Our branch is so new, I’m stretching it thin hiring you in the first place.”

“That’s hardly an incentive for me to stay, now is it?” she pointed out.

“There is no money. But I’ll give you anything else you want – within reason,” he said, pointing a finger at her.

“I want my own office,” she said.

“Fine,” he said.

She held out her hand. Sousa took it.

“Welcome to LA, Agent Carter,” he said, shaking her hand. “I believe I may live to regret this.”

 

Two men stood alone in the middle of a vast air hanger, one in a light grey suit, the other a lab coat and glasses. Their only company was a great silver monolith in the centre of the hangar – a mess of pipes assembled to create something slightly ominous, the faint hiss of steam escaping from its many valves.

“Does it work?”

The man turned to face the engineer, hands clasped behind his back, chestnut hair combed neatly to one side. He probably could even have been described as handsome, if it were not for the milky white pearl that rested where his right eye once had. Permanent creases had etched themselves into the edges of his eyes and mouth.

“All testing done so far seems to suggest it,” the engineer said, flipping through his clipboard. “Of course, we will only know for sure once we start large scale testing.”

“Is there any way to know for sure, before the machine is used?” he asked.

“Well, no,” the engineer replied. “But I can assure you, our testing has been rigorous. It will work when we need it.”

“Good.”

He lifted the gun, and shot the engineer between the eyes. The sound of the shot echoed around the vast hanger. No one came running.

The man didn’t even look at the engineer, as he stepped over his corpse and walked up to the machine. He rested a hand against its metal pipes, feeling the thrum of its parts against his skin.

He pulled out his pocket watch and opened it, looking down at the photo of the dark haired woman contained within. She didn’t look at him in the photo – she never looked at him. All that was about to change.

“Soon,” he said, whether to the woman’s photo or himself, we don’t know.

He snapped the watch shut, and left.


	2. Chapter 2

It had not been nearly as complicated as Peggy had expected, to organise for Jarvis to come and collect her from the airport and return her to Stark’s mansion. In fact, she was rather surprised by Howard’s lack of surprise when she asked if he would mind her keeping her room for slightly longer.  
“I always knew you were coming back, Peg,” Howard had insisted, from where he lay on his deck chair by the pool. “No one ever wants to return to the East Coast after they get a taste of the sun.”  
“I very much doubt that is why you chose to live here,” she said, watching as a scantily clad blonde walked by.  
“Well, I won’t deny, there’s other perks,” he said, slapping the blonde on her arse as she passed him. “But either way, Pegs, mi casa, su casa. Stay as long as you like.”  
The Jarvis’ had been equally pleased that she had decided to remain.  
“It will be so nice, to have a woman in the house,” Ana had said, in that Hungarian accent of hers.  
“Ana, there are women here all the time,” Peggy pointed out.  
“Yes, but none with actual brains,” she replied, tapping Peggy on the forehead. “Mr Stark always likes to be the brightest in the room. I think he chooses his lady friends specifically to exaggerate this.”  
Peggy couldn’t entirely disagree with that sentiment. Stark was a man of many talents, but he was not one that liked to spend time with women for their conversation. Peggy had long since believed the only reason why Howard tolerated her the way he did was because he did not see her that way anymore. She was far too stimulating to him in other ways to be an interest sexually.  
So it was that Peggy had moved back in to her old room in Stark’s mansion. She had called Angie that evening to let her know that she would not be returning to New York. Angie had asked if she wanted her belongings boxed up and shipped to LA, but for some reason, Peggy asked her to hold off on that just for the moment. Peggy did have enough insight that her decision to remain in LA may have been a hasty one, and she did always like to have an exit strategy.  
It was all warm greetings from Rose when she returned to the Auerbuch Talent Agency the following day.  
“I just knew you weren’t going. I knew it,” she said, giving Peggy a big hug. “Once you go West Coast, you never go back, baby! It’s the weather. It’s a…”  
“…Dry heat,” Peggy finished. “Yes, I know.”  
“Chief is going to be so happy you decided to say,” Rose said, following Peggy down the corridor.  
“Well, I should hope so. He hired me,” she replied, twisting the file R through S, to reveal the hidden entrance to their office.   
“Speaking of which,” she said, walking through the doors. “Where is my new office?”  
“Oh! Right this way.”  
Rose led Peggy through the office, past the desks and down the hall… to the toilet.  
“Here we are!” Rose announced excitedly.  
“…The bathroom,” Peggy clarified.  
“No, silly. Right there,” Rose said, pointing to the almost invisible door beside the women’s bathroom. Rose walked over and opened the door, to reveal a room nearly as narrow as the desk that had been shoehorned in there.  
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” she said.  
“I know. I can’t believe you get an ocean view,” Rose said, leaning across the desk to look out the window. “You can’t see the water from ground level.”  
Peggy was not entirely sure you could see one from here, either. All she could see was the sea of rooftops that stretched out beyond – which was definitely the only thing that would be doing any stretching in this room. She was sure if she extended her arms, she would touch both walls.  
“Agent Carter.”  
Peggy turned around, to find Agent Sousa standing in the doorframe. Rose glanced at the two of them, before saying, “I better get downstairs before another one of those entertainment-types turns up to try their luck.”  
“How are you liking the new office?” Daniel asked, hobbling into the room once Rose vacated it.  
“It’s lovely, Daniel,” Peggy said. “Look – I have a water view.”  
Daniel looked over her shoulder and squinted.  
“I think I’ll have to trust you on that one,” he said.  
“You will have to trust Rose. I can’t see a thing!”  
Peggy was grateful when a slight smile snuck across Daniel’s face, only to be answered with one of her own. Peggy couldn’t help but notice the way the corners of Daniel’s eyes crinkled when he did that. It was sad that she didn’t get to see them do that more often.  
Somehow the pair of them had fallen into silence, and it had started to become uncomfortable. The only thing that helped to break it was when the room started shaking.  
Daniel slammed into Peggy’s chest at the first tremor, unable to maintain his balance on his bad leg. Peggy grabbed a hold of him, more to keep him from going over than anything else. The desk vibrated violently across the floor. Daniel swung around and dragged Peggy to the floor with him, just as the lightbulb fell and shattered.  
And just like that, it was over.  
“Peggy, are you alright?” Daniel asked, as she pulled herself from where she lay on his chest.  
“I’m fine,” she said. “…Was that an earthquake?”  
Daniel nodded.  
“That’s LA for you,” he says. “It gets the shakes all the time. Biggest one I’ve felt, though.”  
“I should hope so. Should it do that all the time, I may regret my decision to stay here… Daniel – you’re bleeding.”  
Daniel lifted a hand to his head, bringing it away to look at the blood.  
“I’m okay,” he said, swatting away Peggy’s hand as she tried to touch it. “I’ve got a thick head.”  
“I think we better get you looked at by a medic,” Peggy said, standing up. “Do you think you can stand?”  
“Trust me, Peg. I’m well practiced at getting off the floor with my leg,” he insisted.  
“I was more concerned about whether you had a concussion,” she said, raising an eyebrow. “Looks like you’re right about having a thick head, Agent Sousa.”  
“Thanks,” Daniel said, ignoring the hand she offered as he manoeuvred himself from the floor.   
He turned to look at the doorframe, and spotted a smear of his blood where his head impacted it.   
“You know what, Peg. I think you’re office is a bit small.”  
Peggy couldn’t help but laugh at that sentiment.  
“Medic – now,” she said, shuffling Daniel out the door.


	3. Chapter 3

Peggy told herself it wasn’t jealousy she felt while she watched Violet dabbing a cotton ball of iodine to the cut on Daniel’s head. After all, it was only natural to feel concerned when your boss had a head injury. Just as it was natural for his fiancée to tend to his injuries and care for him during his convalescence.  
“I’m fine,” Daniel insisted, gently swatting away Violet’s experienced touch.  
“Now, hush,” Violet said, playfully swatting him on the head, “and let me finish my job. You’re lucky enough to have avoided scrambling your brain with a knock with that. Don’t waste your good luck by letting this cut get infected.”  
“Is it going to need stitches?” Peggy asked.  
“Not many,” Violet said.  
“Not any,” Daniel insisted. “I’ll be fine.”  
“Let me be the one to decide that,” Violet said, booping Daniel on the nose.  
Peggy’s chest squeezed just that little bit, when Daniel pulled Violet around – so much like he had with Peggy in her office only so many minutes earlier – forcing her to land in her lap with a burst of giggles. She watched as Violet wrapped her arms around Daniel’s neck.  
“I know you’re trying to distract me,” Violet said.  
“Is it working?”  
“Chief Sousa?”  
A man in a dark suit walked in, taking off his fedora as he entered the room and resting it against his chest. His dark hair was highlighted with salt and pepper, a neat moustache rested on his lip.  
Chief Sousa stood up, gently placing Violet on her feet, before walking over to the man and offering his hand.  
“That’s me,” he said, shaking his hand. “And you are?”  
“Agent Frank Hobbs, FBI,” he said, shaking back. “Pleased to make your acquaintance.”  
“I’ll just be going,” Violet whispered, kissing Daniel on the cheek before leaving. Daniel acknowledged her with a smile.  
“FBI,” Daniel said, once Violet had left. “What brings you to our neck of the woods?”  
“Well, I don’t know if you noticed, but we did just have an earthquake,” Agent Hobbs said.  
“Kinda hard to miss,” he replied. “But last time I checked, seismic phenomenon were not the purview of the Federal Bureau of Investiagtion.”  
“They are when they come with an advanced warning,” Hobbs said, shoving a piece of paper into Daniel’s chest and walking across the room to lean against Chief Sousa’s desk.  
Daniel looked at the letter.  
“At 0915 Pacific Time, Monday 4th of August, 1947, there will be a 4.5 magnitude earthquake affecting Los Angeles,” he read. “Shit.”  
“Quite,” Agent Hobbs said.  
“When did you get this,” Daniel asked, shaking the piece of paper.  
“Two weeks ago,” he replied, leaning back and folding his arms. “An hour after our quake, we get a phone call from the bastard.”  
“What did he say?” Peggy asked.  
Agent Hobbs turned to look at her. He remained silent.  
“…This is Agent Margaret Carter,” Daniel said, by way of introduction.  
“Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Agent Hobbs,” she said. “But what did the caller say?”  
“‘Do I have your attention?’”  
“…That’s it?” she asked.  
He nodded.  
“Well, that’s slightly ominous,” she said.  
“You think?” Hobbs asked. “Damned terrifying is another way of putting it. Either this guy has some way of predicting future events, or he is able to create earthquakes. Neither one of those options has me feeling particularly warm and fuzzy.”  
“What do you think this guy plans on doing?” Daniel asked.  
“Given the fact that he potentially caused a 4.5 magnitude earthquake just to get our attention, I am guessing something not good,” Agent Hobbs said.   
“It’s why I’ve been given permission to seek you guys out, seeming you’re the experts on all this… paranormal stuff,” he continued, waving his hand. “We gotta find this guy before he does something we’re all going to regret.”  
“Well, you’ve come to the right place,” Daniel said. “So, where do you want to start?”  
“If I might interrupt,” Peggy said, “but I just might have a suggestion.”


	4. Chapter 4

“Genius!” Howard announced, as he led the group down the hall, towards his workroom. “…If it’s true, of course. I don’t actually recall there being an earthquake today.”  
“You don’t remember a 4.5 magnitude earthquake?” Peggy asked, incredulously.  
“What time did it happen?” Howard asked, swinging back to look at Peggy for a moment.  
“Four hours ago,” she replied.  
“Ah,” Howard said, raising a finger a smiling. “That explains it. I was still ‘entertaining’ Miss Bergman at that point. I thought the earth moving was just a normal part of proceedings.”  
“Ignore Howard,” Peggy said to Agent Hobbs. “You can probably imagine just how clever he really is, given that we’re willing to put up with the rest of the rubbish that comes out his mouth.”  
“Genius,” Howard corrected. “Not rubbish. I never say anything that doesn’t have a purpose.”  
“Even if that purpose is only to inform us of your recent conquests,” Peggy quipped. “Now, Howard, artificial earthquake. Go.”  
“Yeah, yeah,” he said, walking over to a cupboard and swinging the doors open.   
Inside, there was a machine with a small metal arm, dancing across the paper that continuously scrolled through it. Somehow Peggy was not surprised that Howard Stark kept a seismometer in his basement. They watched as Howard lifted a stack of paper, running it through his fingers until he found the trace he wanted.  
“Oh…oh! You beautiful thing!” he exclaimed.  
“Howard, what is it?” Peggy asked.  
Howard yanked the piece of paper, tearing it along the line where it was coming out of his machine, and walked towards the table that the SSR agents and Agent Hobbs were standing at.  
“Look at it,” he said, flattening the paper against the table to reveal the haphazard lines scribbled on it. “Earthquakes are caused by tectonic shifts – that’s movement of the plates that our Earth is made out of,” he explained. “Movements of those plates over each other causes friction, that leads to the shaking we feel. These - ” he said, pointing at the area where the lines became messier, “these are tracing from our shake this morning.”  
“…And?” Chief Sousa said.  
“Look at them!” he said.   
“God, what must it be like living in your small heads,” he said, when they remained silent. He spun the paper around. “This is not what an earthquake looks like. Earthquakes are messy… they’re random. These are way too neat… and too shallow,” he said, picking the paper up to look at it closer. “This is not a natural earthquake.”  
“We already knew that,” Hobbs said. “What we want to know, is how he did it.”  
“Oh, wouldn’t I love to know that,” Howard said. “This is some next-level technology – and I would know, given that it’s what I do for a living.”  
“Someone impressing you – that’s never a good sign,” Peggy said.  
“No. It’s not,” he said, looking up to meet her eyes. “I can’t even imagine what this type of technology could do, if it ended up in the wrong hands. There are reasons why I left tectonic technology alone.”  
“What does that mean, Mr Stark?” Daniel asked.  
Howard turned to look at Daniel.  
“Fooling around with how the world works is never a good thing,” Howard said. “He might have control over this now, with these little shakes he’s creating, but I tell you what.”   
He tapped the piece of paper.  
“Mother nature has a way of getting away from you. All you need is a little shake in the wrong spot, at the wrong time, and he could set off a chain reaction that he is not going to be able to stop. We are this close,” he said, pinching his fingers, “to one of the biggest fault lines there is. Should that go off, LA and the majority of the West Coast is going to end up in the Pacific.”  
“Jesus Christ,” Hobbs said.  
“I don’t think he’s going to be able to help us with this one,” Howard quipped. “You’d be better off trying to find this fellow yourself and stopping him from using this machine again.”  
“Is there any way to trace where the earthquake came from, Howard?” Peggy asked.  
“Theoretically, yes,” Howard said. “But you’d need more than one seismographic trace for that. Basically, if we could look at this quake from multiple locations, it should be possible to trace it back to the origin.”  
“So we’re going to have to set up more of these machines and wait until he tries this again?” Hobbs asked.  
“God, no,” Howard said. “This is not the only seismograph in LA, you know. Plenty should be around that captured our quake.”  
“And where do we find them, Howard?” Peggy asked.  
“Schools… Universities… Pretty sure there’s one up at St Francis Dam,” he said. “Best bet would just be going and asking the USGS. Earthquakes are kind of their area of interest.”  
“USGS… Right. On it,” Daniel said. “Thank you, Mr Stark.”  
He reached out and shook Howard’s hand.  
“You’re welcome,” he said. “Hey – if you do find this guy, do me a favour. Can you tell him that just because we can act like a God doesn’t mean we should?”  
“Howard – that almost sounded like humility,” Peggy said.  
“Hey, Pegs,” he said. “I may like to push the envelope both personally and professionally, but even I know when to draw the line. And nation-wide cataclysms are it.”  
“Oh, good,” she said. “I was beginning to get worried.”  
“About me?” he asked. “Pegs, I’m touched.”  
“So… USGS?” Hobbs asked, breaking the moment.  
“Oh… right,” Peggy said. “Of course. Lead the way, Agent Hobbs.”


End file.
